12 Neighborhoods 'In Need of Revitalization' to Receive Business Rehab

SUNSET PARK — From Red Hook to the Rockaways, a dozen New York City neighborhoods were declared "in need of revitalization" by the boroughs' five chambers of commerce, which together won a six-figure grant to build business-improvement associations in all 12 communities.

The money, a $200,000 grant from the TD Bank Group and TD Charitable Foundation, will help launch a Citywide Neighborhood Entrepreneurship Project, which will distribute seed money for creating merchants' groups, beautification projects and shop-local campaigns in "underserved…low- and middle-income areas," officials said, as well as those severely affected by Hurricane Sandy.

"The neighborhoods that were affected by the storm that had organized merchants' associations really were able to quickly rebuild. The ones that don't have organized merchants' associations are still suffering," said Carlo Scissura, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which received the grant on behalf of all five chambers.

Further improvements, Laufer said, could include "adding new trees and branches and public amenities. I would very much like to see plantings and public artworks along the median. But I'd also like to see some additional safety improvements, including heavy bollards to protect the pedestrians."

The first checks are expected to be distributed next month, officials stated.

"This has never been done before, where you have five chambers from five different boroughs coming together to determine how best to serve the communities," said Robert Walsh, commissioner of the city's Department of Small Business Services. Building more business groups in the Big Apple, he continued, is critical for helping the city recover from Sandy.

"We got to dig in. We got to get our business district organizations doing more."

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